Today as the title implies, we discuss Faith In The Faith Of Adversity.

I had no clue how poignant today’s topic would be yesterday when I finished yesterday’s post. After writing this yesterday I spent the rest of my day unsuccessfully attempting to upload my next ebook on to my self publishing profile on smashwords.

The first three times I attempted to do so their servers crashed and I received messages that the site was unavailable. After each failed attempt tried several times to upload again but their servers were unavailable for hours on end. I attributed the server failures to the overload of last minute holiday shopping so I figured that if I kept trying, I would eventually upload it.

Fate had another plan in mind for yours truly.

When the servers were available again I attempted a fourth time and my wifi could not find a signal.

Not to be thwarted I attempted a fifth time and received a message from the site that all the formatting errors I had corrected via their style guide had not been accepted and my cover image was corrupted.

I knew I had followed the guide meticulously and I opened my cover image in PDF, image viewer, and my photo app so I knew it could not be corrupted.

I overlooked the manuscript again and found none of the errors the program was stating existed, I was quite baffled.

You can call me determined or stubborn but I tried again, and received the same error messages and corrupt image file message, again.

I pride myself on my resilience and determination and it took every ounce of my self discipline to not to unplug my desktop and hurl it against the wall.

As you can imagine I was so frustrated kicked the door and jammed my toes, they are still sore this morning as a painful reminder of how frustration leads nowhere.

At that point I started laughing. I had no idea of what else to do, I did realize however that when you keep doing something and it’s not working your technique must be changed, or else you will continue to receive the same ugly results.

I regrouped, took a deep breath and started he guide from square one. I found that the corrupt file message from my cover image was due to a dimensional problem and the error messages in my manuscript were a result of a small tick in word that I had not clicked apply on, which threw my formatting off.

I know it can be very challenging to maintain your positive outlook in the face of adversity, but nothing you ever do that is worthwhile will come to you easily. Obstacles will appear in your way, and you will encounter other setbacks. Those are facts of life that will not change. What does change however is how you get yourself back up and learn from your mistakes and drive on. Adversity never changes, people change their mentalities.

-Recall a time when you could have given up and you did not, be it a sports team, a bad job, a mended relationship, or any other circumstance where you faced adversity. Take pride in overcoming it!

-Look at the people in our culture who did anything great: they suffered countless setbacks, many nay sayers, doubters, and failures. The commonality is they all pushed forward with drive and a sense of purpose to accomplish their goals.

Short list today I know. I am traveling back home for the holiday season and will not see you awesome guys again until Friday! I hope you have a very happy holiday season with all those who care about you. Everybody has value, and it is the time of year to be with those who we have the most value with. I believe in each and every one of you and I am excited to see how you impact the world for the better in the future.

Happy Monday Gents! I hope your weekend was successful and productive. Today we discuss a concept that all alpha males at their core are fully aware of and embrace with every action, word spoken, and deed done: reciprocity.

The concept is simple enough but goes far deeper than the “quid pro quo” that the majority of humanity observes, only after someone has done for them, or if it is beneficial then the favor will be returned.

However reciprocity has far more to do with your overall life attitude than it does your willingness or unwillingness to pay people back after a favor. Everybody wants to feel valued, sometimes that sense of value must be generated from within, and other times we receive it from people via praise or accolades, but that is how the majority of people gain praise.

To reciprocate is the ultimate demonstration of respect for yourself, your fellow humans, humanity as a whole and the world and all it’s creatures. All of the above mentioned live within you already and are all dominant alpha male traits. So the question of today’s topic becomes how do we begin to shift mentality to one of favors versus one of reciprocity?

Quite simple enough actually: All you have to do is believe in along with living by one of the “golden rules” of life in “you get out what you put in”.

People who feel slighted don’t want to help people who have done damage to them right? Working every day towards your sense of highest purpose is the first step, (which I know you already live by), and the second is by embracing the golden rule concepts we discussed above.

The successful alpha male that lives inside you radiates the concept of reciprocity. He wants to keep as much balance in the world as possible, hence he wants to keep as many people happy and productive as possible. He will do favors for others and times and expect nothing in return. At other times he will do something and except something and get nothing, but he will not allow that to get him down. He never changes himself due to the way other people treat him or have slighted him in the past. The only path when someone slights you is forgiveness, compassion, and learning from your mistakes.

Anything else is negative energy and far too much of that in the world already, your inner alpha male knows that and seeks in no way to contribute to that beast.

To get in to the “reciprocity” mental mode that I have found most effective, it is time for today’s list:

-Do something for someone and expect nothing in return. What you get in return is contributing to the world’s positive energy!

-Volunteer. Time is our most precious currency in life and giving up a little bit of it to help someone less fortunate is more generous than acting as if the problem does not exist by tossing a couple of bucks in the salvation army bucket, even though that is a good cause also.

-Ask a favor of someone and then immediately ask upon completion what you can do for them. If they say nothing, pass it one to someone else and keep good going. They will more likely than not do the same and the positive chain of event you have just created is much more powerful than you might think.

I am excited to see what all of you will do to make this world a better place over your lifetime!

Tomorrow we discuss a mental stance that all emotionally strong people have: Faith in the face of adversity.

Today we discuss passion. Everybody possesses it but very few of us tap into the full power that it offers us in this life in terms of fulfillment and success.

Ever notice how passionate people just seem to have that “factor”, that separates them from the rest of the pack? They operate their daily routines and life live on a totally different level than the rest of the people you see them interact with. I’ve heard several people describe it as he’s just got “it”. That “it” my brothers is passion.

Passion is knowing what you are on this earth for and working towards it every second of every single day. The majority of people have hobbies, interests, and of course occupations, but very few people live with passion. The reason most people don’t is because they are fearful of pursuing their passion or they have yet to find it.

My passions are screenwriting/filmmaking and helping as many people on this earth find their full potential as I possibly can.

I’ve only recently discovered my second passion, but that doesn’t mean that I go any softer on helping people find their potential then I do on my screenwriting and film work either. Passionate people however are not synonymous with successful people per say, but one usually accompanies the other.

Characteristics that passionate and successful people both share are as follows:

-No off days.

Ever, seriously. That does not mean you work all day, everyday until you keel over, cause you won’t do your best for the world if you never stop. It does however imply that you have purpose every single day. Even if you don’t work on a day or two of the week, what do you do to enchanted your life when you are not pursuing your passion.

Passionate people understand the need for rest, reflection, and re cooperation. It gives us the mental, physical, and emotional strength we need from time to time to push through adversity.

-Their own sense of self.

Passionate people do not care what others think about them, they know why they are here and will never compromise to make someone else more comfortable. I used to care what others thought of me, it was a quantifiable result of my low sense of self-esteem I carried with me for many years, when I was younger I was overweight, which effected my sense of self-worth negatively.

Honestly, if you are self-assured and confident in your purpose others thoughts on you are inconsequential. Adopt the philosophy if you want to help the world as much as you can, I know you will, because I believe in you!

-Over coming adversity

Passion does not stop for bumps in the road. You power on, you know why you are here. You want to enrich lives and help humanity. Haters and obstacles never slow you down, you cannot afford to let them, because, you guessed it, you know why you are here, your sense of purpose.

As we discussed previously when people cannot find their passion they feel they have none, I know every person on planet earth has passion because I’ve discovered two within myself. Take an inventory of what you enjoy doing,mor gain the strongest sense of fulfillment from, be it in your current job, your hobbies, crafts, classes, socialization. I know it is there waiting for you to uncover it, and if you have yet to find it I will help you in any way I can. I believe you will find it, follow your instincts and if nothing else, there’s nothing wrong with trying a few fun things that are wrong on the way to finding the one that’s is right.

In life there are no mistakes, only learning experiences.

Tomorrow is all day football so I will see you again on Monday when we discuss another Alpha Male characteristic that is busting to get out of you and help the world: The Protector.

Hello again cool guys, the weekend is upon us and we use the weekend to blow off steam, see friends and family, and seek gratification that seems to be reserved for the weekend.

However, as we have discussed before, life is all about perspective, so I want to remind all those reading that it is very important to take time off, but be mindful of others.

What I mean to say is that if you work hard, (which I know you all do), you must play hard also. Meaning you have to balance your work week self with the fireball that is your weekend awesomeness. It has been proven in many psychological studies, (most recently by the University of Chicago) that having two consecutive days off is the most healthy (physically and mentally) work pattern for most people.

However for many of us the the weekend version of you is an exhausted, disappointed, and frustrated version of the work week you. It is a problem I had when I found myself in the Monday through Friday grind known as the American workweek. Your mentality becomes so damaged it effects you in ways that are mostly self-destructive. I know because I have been there.

The best way that I have found to balance work and leisure is to be the same person all the time, or in other words, maintain a sense of positive impact always, regardless of your present circumstances, company, location, or activities.

You have a lot of lives to impact for the better in your time on this earth, and I am very excited to see what you have to offer the world. I know that you fall down, get in slumps, and can become down trodden through out the course of your work week, we all do, as I said before I’ve been there myself.

What I failed to recognize until very recently is the fact that I have many lives to impact. It is a responsibility that only I can hold myself accountable for, and I strongly suggest you to do the same. There is a tremendous amount of power that you hold when you feel a strong sense of personal responsibility, one that gets lost from time to time in the weekend activities of forgetting your work week problems.

However as I’m sure you all know forgetting problems never solves them, it only makes them worse until you finally muster the courage to tackle them head on.

Time for the list in this post!

-Remember a positive impact you had through out your work week, a co-worker or friend you made laugh or smile.

-Give a family member/friend/girlfriend/boyfriend a hug and give them a little extra love and affection, remind them of their value to you.

-Spend a little bit of time helping someone out less fortunate than yourself, be it a volunteer program, someone needing help moving, someone needing help fixing a problem, step up and be a man and help someone else out.

-Remember the time of the year. We just had Thanksgiving a few weeks back and Christmas is just around the corner, so take time for family and be grateful for what you have.

-Re-focus your energy on accomplishing the goals you have yet to bring to life. They are not impossible to bring into reality, they are merely waiting for you mental state and time to be in balance to bring them to life.

Alright cool cats, I’ll see you again tomorrow when we discuss another alpha male trait that we only scratched the surface on today, passion. Get excited, the world belongs to us, we just have to find the way we will make the best impact possible. I’m glad to have the opportunity to share our journeys!

Today we discuss another trait that all successful Alphas embrace about themselves that you must follow to reach your full potential: Drive.

At times in life you will get knocked down, you will suffer setbacks, and fail. All of those things happen to all of us humans, especially men of our echelon who strive to change the world by reaching for our full potential everyday.

What separates us from the folks who get knocked down and don’t try again is a characteristic of emotional strength known as drive.

We all get obstacles thrown in our way. Drive separates the true Alpha male from the rest who have yet to realize their full potential.

To put it in other words, drive and self-confidence go hand in hand with a sense of purpose. It is the acceptance of your mistakes. The willingness to get back up, try and again, and the fearlessness to try again, in spite of those mistakes.

An example from my recent past:

I made friends with a person who betrayed my trust, corrupted my work and tried to make my life as close to a living hell as possible. They hacked into my accounts, corrupted files of my ebooks, and basically tried to tear me down because I tried to help them, and they wanted nothing more than to complain about their problems and seek no solutions. They just wanted to gossip and belly ache, which as we all know solves nothing.

Drive lives within me because after those events unfolded, I formed a new plan, started working again and said to myself “Okay, they’ve done their worst. I’ll come back stronger and show the whole world my best.”

I accepted that I made the mistake of trusting the wrong person, learned that life lesson, and kept on pushing, working harder with a much greater sense of purpose because I knew they were hating on me because they knew I was on the right path, and honestly were jealous.

Drive lives within you also, you have the power to change your circumstances and your mentality because you are striving to make yourself a better man so you may benefit the world to your fullest potential.

You know I love my lists by this point so let’s look at a few examples from your past that will prove to you that the power of drive lives within you:

-In school when you got a bad grade you hated the teacher and wanted to do better to prove them wrong.

-At work, you got shown that you were wrong and wanted to come back and do better work to prove you were capable of more.

-One of your friends, in seriousness or jest cracked on you for a flaw, so you take that as a reason to fix that flaw and prove them wrong.

-A family member shows you embarrassing photos or tells a story of your flaws from your past and it pushes you forward to show them you are capable of improving yourself and not stuck in the same old shell of the person they are relaying the story/photo about.

-You have made the choice to become the best man that you can possibly be, for yourself first, and for the world secondly.

Drive, like self-confidence must be generated from within.

If you are still unsure as to your purpose in this life yet, then your purpose should be making yourself into the best man that you can possibly be, your passion will follow shortly.

I am withholding the topic of tomorrow’s post as a surprise, but I’ll give you a hint, it has to do with common weekend activities that all people enjoy.